Origin: Cityside Sunday 9 November, 2003. Curated by Brenda Stone.
Theme:
Mood:
Setup:
Gear:
On this Sunday morning the situation arose where the person who was meant to be doing the sermon became unavailable for the service, and only one of the rostered participants for the rest of the service was able to turn up. So, instead of trying to fill all the slots, we decided to morph the usual order of service into stations for meditation, with a few alterations.
We opened the service with a corporate responsive reading and candle lighting as our call to worship, and then we sung a couple of songs. Then, people were invited to use the stations for their worship over the next half an hour. We closed the service with Concerns of the Church and the Benediction in the usual way.
The notes in the newsletter with instructions for each station ran as follows:
Stations for this Sunday’s worship:
The stations can be visited in any order, and you can stay with them as long as you like, and visit as many or as few of them as you like. They roughly correspond to our usual order of service.
Confession:
There are three different lists of words. Pick up one list. With attention to any prompting from God, select one word from the list to focus your confession. Either circle or rip off this word and let God speak to you about it. Then, select another list, and go through the same process, attending to what God might say about the relationship between your first word and your second. Then, go through the process again with the third list. How do the three words you have chosen relate to each other, and your life? What is your response?
After you have made your confession, use the bowl of water to wash your hands, face, or sprinkle yourself with water to symbolise cleansing, refreshment and a new start.
Icon:
Rublev’s icon of the Trinity is on two TV screens (choose cushions or chairs as you prefer). Sit and reflect on the icon, meditating on the colours, positions and other dimensions of the image. Allow yourself to be drawn into communion with the Trinity.
‘Sermon’:
On the plinth are Bibles, and a handout with a text and some guiding questions. Spend some time exploring the Bible passage, either on your own or with others. The sofa has been set aside as an area where you can gather with others to discuss the text in a group.
Alternatively, you could spend some time browsing in the Reference Library…read a chapter from one of the books…but please don’t take the book out of the building.
Prayers for Others:
Write your prayer or a name of a person or situation on a leaf, and then attach the leaf to the tree.
The word lists for the prayer of confession were:
List One: Work, Family, Friendships, Self, World
List Two: Thoughts, Words, Actions, Habits, Feelings
List Three: Love, Integrity, Generosity, Openness, Depth
The Bible text and meditation was based on John 11:17-44
The questions were as follows:
Read the story through slowly, then think about, or discuss, the questions below:
Which character in the story do you identify most with? Why?
What line or statement stands out particularly for you? Reflect on this for a while. Talk with Jesus, or some other people about what that line is saying to you.
Is there anything about the story that you find difficult to accept? Why? What might you do with this difficulty?
What does it mean to you that Jesus claims to be ‘the resurrection and the life.’ Does this have any impact on your present life?
Both Mary and Martha accuse Jesus of allowing their brother to die (see 11:3 for the message that they sent Jesus when Lazarus was ill.) Are there any issues in your life at the moment where you would like to accuse Jesus of negligence, or absence? How might it help to see your grievance in the context of the ending of the story?
Perhaps now, perhaps later, re-write this story from the point of the view of the character you identify with. Feel free to embellish or digress. See how your re-writing clarifies the issues this story brings up for you.